Thirty-one provinces have announced their GDP growth targets for 2012 and only Hainan province set a higher growth rate than last year, the Beijing News reported on Thursday. 

Some provinces set the target much lower than 2011. For example, the target of Chongqing in 2012 is 13.5 percent compared to 16.4 percent a year earlier.

According to the data, Guizhou has the highest GDP goal, which is 14 percent, while Beijing and Shanghai have the lowest at 8 percent.

Experts told the paper that turning down the GDP growth rate will not affect the improvement of people’s living standards.